Warren County climbs to ‘medium’ COVID community level

Butler County remained unchanged at a “medium” community level in the latest CDC update using data from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6. The incident case rate was 290.76 per 100,000.

Montgomery and Preble counties dropped from “high” to “medium” CDC data show.

The CDC uses the number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the past week, new COVID hospital admissions and the percent of staffed inpatient hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients to determine COVID community levels.

The Ohio Department of Health reported Thursday that weekly cases dropped after the number of cases reported last week increased for the first time in a month.

The state added 21,731 cases in the last week, which is about 3,500 fewer than reported Sept. 1, according to ODH data.

Thursday also marked the third consecutive week that hospitalizations have decreased across the state. Ohio reported 575 hospitalizations in the last week compared to 604 hospitalizations the previous week.

Despite weekly cases remaining above 20,000, most people are not getting seriously ill, ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said during a Thursday morning press briefing.

Coronavirus patients accounted for fewer than 5% of hospital beds and 3.8% of ICU beds in the state, according to the ODH.

When a county is designated at a medium level in the CDC’s framework, the following actions are recommended:

If you are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe disease, learn more about how to protect yourself with additional CDC recommendations for each COVID-19 community level.